60 gal school build

[FishieMomma]

I'm in charge of the school's 60gal tank. I'll be setting it up from scratch. It has white sand in it right now which I plan to change out to blue (to look good in the decor of the school). I have an Aqueon 75 filter and appropriately sized heater. There are seeded filters in my tanks at home so it should cycle quickly.

I am looking for stocking suggestions. I would love Cories on the bottom as they are my favorite fish and not too expensive. Perhaps a few schools and a centerpiece fish? No angels though. I've had them at home and they are too limiting. Would a single DG be a good centerpiece fish?

Also, if I put in live plants can they grow with LED lights? There is no natural light on the spot where the tank is.

 

[Fishperson]

I'm in charge of the school's 60gal tank. I'll be setting it up from scratch. It has white sand in it right now which I plan to change out to blue (to look good in the decor of the school). I have an Aqueon 75 filter and appropriately sized heater. There are seeded filters in my tanks at home so it should cycle quickly.

I am looking for stocking suggestions. I would love Cories on the bottom as they are my favorite fish and not too expensive. Perhaps a few schools and a centerpiece fish? No angels though. I've had them at home and they are too limiting. Would a single DG be a good centerpiece fish?

Also, if I put in live plants can they grow with LED lights? There is no natural light on the spot where the tank is.

A large school of 10 or so cories would be cool. For a center piece fish you could do a pearl gourami instead of a dg because I think dgs are too small to be a centerpiece fish in a 60 gallon. What are the dimensions on the tank? If it's big enough (more like long enough) you could have rainbowfish in there, as a top dwelling fish, the kids would love that. For the middle, fish like harlequin rasboras, and my favorite, bloodfin tetras (most tetras are good though), are good hardy fish.

 

[Fishninja]

U could have a school of red cherry shrimp some cories and some tetras

 

[Fishninja]

The good thing is it is big so u can have room to play with y not some kuhli loaches if the school is big enough they will be active and courious

 

[FishieMomma]

It's tall and pentagon shaped. It's clearly a older tank. I will research the loaches! Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[FishieMomma]

On first look, loaches seem pretty neat and an interesting addition to the tank.

 

[Fishninja]

Yeah and they only get 4 inches

 

[Fishninja]

They r slender and there bioload is very small so u can get more than u think

 

[FishieMomma]

I played around on AqAdvisor and came up with the following stocking scheme. As always, comments are welcome.

8 albino Cories (bottom dwellers, active during the day)
6 kuhli loaches (bottom dwellers, active at night)
12 neon tetras for a nice shoaling effect, (mid-level dwellers)
12 harlequin Rasboras also for a nice shoaling effect (mid-to-top level swimmers)
2 pearl gouramis, male and females (mid-to-top level swimmers)

I really don't want the gouramis to breed as it requires a low water level and they might get a tad aggressive.

According to AqAdvisor, this scheme is 82% stocked with a recommended 24% water change a week. I'll do way more than that. I always change 50% of my tanks' wate a week and don't feed every day, just most days.

Thoughts?

 

[bettaowner]

You might be able to have a pair of German blue rams

 

[FishieMomma]

You might be able to have a pair of German blue rams

Thanks for mentioning those. They are spectacular fish. I assume they would be instead of the pearl gourami. I'll give it a lot of thought.